Category: Celebrities

“There will be no further explanation. There will only be reputation” Those are the words at the end of the introduction Taylor Swift wrote for her album inserts that coincide with her album.

The introduction in itself is something beautiful and insightful into what this young woman has been through. She uses what she’s been through to give advice to others. As we all do. I don’t own her words as they are her own.

Your reputation is something precious to you. It is something that all of us worry about. It’s something that growing up going through school age we all worried about. We are a society that is known to put emphasis on what people think of us. We use our social media platforms to show what we want people to see of our lives to help mold a reputation of ourselves. We only post the good things because we don’t want people to see the bad things. The bad things are what could destroy our reputations. The bad things are the things that will make people think twice about wanting to get know us.

This entire album is addressing that mindset. It’s about setting the record straight from her point of view. It’s about saying don’t listen to the rumors that are out there because you don’t know the facts. This album is extremely personal to her and if you really listen to the words you will understand that. This album was years in the making and now we know why she’s been very secretive and protective of her personal life. She does not want her personal life out there anymore for people to build off of it.

When I first listened to 1989 I honestly thought that was my favorite album ever that Taylor had done but Reputation is by far my favorite album. This is the most relatable album that she’s ever made. It is the most emotional album she’s ever made. I’m not saying her other album’s didn’t come with their fair share of emotion because they did but none compares to this album. This album is full of every emotion that you can imagine going through. The lyrics are just so well written and so good that it’s hard to ignore the talent that Taylor has just for song writing. This album she clearly challenges herself vocally as well and that really impresses me.

If you are a fan of Taylor Swift you should pick up a copy of this one and I promise you won’t regret it.

SPOILERS AHEAD PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!

So the other night I went to go see Justice League with my nephew because I had promised that on this vacation I would go to that movie with him. We are all big Marvel and DC people so it’s something we all enjoy talking about and going to see together. I will admit that I am a HUGE Marvel fan so you may see this review as biased but I’m trying to make it as unbiased as possible. I am also a big lover of Batman and Wonder Woman so please don’t think I completely dislike the DC universe. I just never got as into DC as I did Marvel. With that being said I’m going to start off by going through the main characters that are in the film and what I thought as honest as possible.

Batman: As I stated at the beginning of this post I am a Batman fan. By that I mean I have literally seen every single Batman movie that has been put out. That means I’ve seen all of the actors that have played the beloved character in live action films. I maintain that besides Michael Keaton the next best Batman portrayal was when he was played by Christian Bale. I will admit I like everyone else was very skeptical when I heard that Ben Affleck was going to be playing this character. My initial thought was that he was a bit old for the character. That thought remains true in my mind. I understand though that this version of Batman appears to be older and that is part of the character. Amidst rumors that they are replacing him, that does not surprise me. However, now that this was his third outing I did not completely hate him as Batman. I think he just needed to grow into the character. I was a little less against it this time around but I’m still not in total agreement of the choice of actor.

Wonder Woman: Now this casting I completely agree with. I know when they first announced Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman people immediately and may I add very sexist went into she doesn’t have big enough breasts to be Wonder Woman. Why her breasts had anything to do with it is beyond me. It should be her acting ability that lands her a role not whether or not she was as chesty as Linda Carter. Gal is incredibly beautiful and she was the perfect choice for Wonder Woman. The world agreed as is apparent in the fact that she was in one of the highest grossing films of the year. I really enjoyed how this movie was kind of the way to get her out of her shell. It addressed that she has never fully moved on from Steve’s death. I enjoyed how by the end of the film she was embracing her gift and coming out into the light instead of hiding in the shadows and only coming out when it was absolutely needed to save the world.

The Flash: This character was very hard to accept. I think part of the issue is that fans of the DC universe have now for 4 seasons gotten used to one actor that was playing him and now have been introduced to an entirely new actor. Not to mention the character in the movie is very different from the character on the show. I admit I do not watch the flash so my opinion of this character is totally unbiased. I did not enjoy this character at all. I felt that they made him seem way too childish and juvenile for my taste. I understand he is supposed to kind of be the new kid in town but they could have done that without making him seem so much like a lost child. My nephew did not enjoy this character but his perspective was based off of watching the show. He knows a lot about the character and was not at all impressed with how they portrayed him in this movie.

Aquaman: I don’t know a lot about Aquaman so I don’t have anything to really compare this character to. I can say that I am only familiar with Jason Momoa because of briefly seeing him in scenes in Game of Thrones (which I do not watch only saw a few scenes of him online). This was one of the characters I actually really enjoyed in this movie. He did a good job for the role that he was given. I thought he played the character well and believable. At first I was kind of like who is this person that they picked to play this guy but then it actually worked out that he was the right fit for the role.

Cyborg: This was besides Wonder Woman my favorite character in the movie. I thought he did a great job and he really fit into the role he was given. While the chracter is obviously what his title says a cyborg. He was once human and they really captured that aspect of him in the movie. They capture his attitude about how he used to be human but also embracing what he really was towards the end of the movie. At first he was that volatile mad at my father for doing this to me kid but then at the end he embraced his “duty” to being part of the team and protecting the world from dangers.

Superman: I am from the age group that grew up with the Christopher Reeves version of superman. So yes in my eyes no one can do it as well as he did but I think that Henry Cavill has done a fantastic job the past years as this character. I have really enjoyed seeing him play this character and watching him grow into the character. That being said I found this outing to be very dull. However, I in no way blame him for that as I think it was a product of the story line and how his part was written. His character is obviously for most of the movie dead so we find out that he really did die at the end of Batman V Superman. I just felt that the way they portrayed him once he was brought back from the dead could have been more. At the beginning it made sense for him to volatile and unsure of himself but then he just became so dull compared to how he was. I know that Clark is not normally a super exciting character but the past few movies he’s at least been more exciting to watch. That being said I am still a big fan of how Henry does as Superman and I hope he continues to do so.

Summary: in summary I think this was a good attempt at making a successful movie. I have no doubt it will make a lot of money because of dedicated fans. I just think it was a let down and I’m sure it wasn’t just me that felt that way. I felt like some of the actors just didn’t connect to the characters the way they had before or how they had to now. The plot was there but it wasn’t as strong of a storyline as you would think it would be. Don’t let me be the judge though. Go see it for yourself. I’m just sharing my opinions.

I’m so sorry this is late. As they always say better late than never. Labor Day weekend has now come and gone and I got to see some interesting places. I have been living in the south shore of Massachusetts for almost a year and had never seen Cape Cod area. I’d never really even seen Plymouth. So when my mom and step father came to visit we decided that’s what we were going to do. We were going to see Cape Cod because none of us had ever seen it. To be honest now that I’ve seen it I really don’t understand the big deal. I get that they have famous beaches but there are other famous beaches too. I guess it just doesn’t impress me seeing multi million dollar homes everywhere. I’m not impressed by that kind of stuff. Some of these homes are just a way for rich people to show off how much money they make and sometimes it’s only two people living in these huge houses.

Anyway I told you that I’d share my travels so I’m sharing them. I will say that when we ate at this place called Mama Mia’s in Plymouth that had to be the absolute best gluten free pizza I’ve had up here. The crust was just perfect. You didn’t even need toppings on the pizza all you needed was the crust, sauce and cheese and it was perfect. After we had a late lunch there we headed to East Bay Grille because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The restaurant itself is beautiful and the bar is nice but it’s not a place I think I’d see myself constantly going to.

The biggest part of the Plymouth agenda was seeing the plantation which we did before we had our meals. I was the girl who yes brought her fancy pants camera without a memory card but luckily they had a store at the plantation and I bought a card so I could take photos. It was very interesting learning about the kind of conditions that they lived in when they settled in Plymouth.What you also learn is that they didn’t really land in Plymouth that is just the location that they decided on settling in. They actually landed in Provincetown. These are just a few of the things that I got to see while at the plantation.

This was the view across from the fort…absolutely beautiful

of course you can’t go to Plymouth without seeing a rock with a date printed on it…

The next day it was time to venture to Cape Cod. It was the perfect day to pick to go because it was a rainy day and that meant not a lot of beach traffic to deal with. In fact when we driving in the traffic leaving the cape was horrendous. We decided that we were going to see Hyannis, Ma. For those of you that are history buffs you would know that Hyannis is famous for being the home of the Kennedy family.

I love learning and history so for me when we decided we were going to Hyannis and we found out that there was a JFK Museum there it was the perfect thing to do on a rainy day. It wasn’t even all that expensive to get in and learn about how much this incredible man did in his very short time in office. I knew he was well respected but it gave me a chance to really learn why he was such a loved president in his short time. This family is truly and incredible family. They have done so much good for so many people and places. I honestly took more pictures than I could begin to share while at the museum. I am planning on definitely going back there probably not on a weekend day so that I can go when I can really just spend hours there reading and learning everything.

So here are a few of the pictures from our adventure at the JFK Museum.

Next on my list of things that I want to go see is the JFK Library. That may be on my game plan for one of my off days this week. Now that I saw some of their history I want to see more of it.

Okay, Okay, us Swifties get it you may hate our girl and guess what we just don’t give a crap that you do. So let’s discuss first of all the outrageous claims people are making about this Look what you made me do music video. First of all if you don’t know Taylor’s music video style you aren’t going to understand any of the references that are going on in this music video.

The graveyard…”out of the woods” anyone…that was a reference to her music video for out of the woods. So I guess we got the answer of no she did not make it out of the woods alive. A little creepy but very clever which is Taylor. She is very creative and very clever in everything that she does.

The car crash with the grammy award…”Driving an old Maserati down a dead end street” referencing to her song Red also the name of the album that should have won a Grammy but never did.

The “I heart T.S” on the dancers…referencing to that time the media made such a big deal about Tom Hiddleston wearing a shirt that said that same thing on it. Even though those of us that are Tom fans know he probably did it as something to be funny and not taken that seriously.

The list of names…well that’s a little more tricky because in blank space the list of names was a long list of ex-lovers. So I’m not sure if the red underline is a reference to one of her ex’s who really did her wrong or the tweet when Katy Perry referred to her as Regina George from Mean girls (the burn book).

The Squad University…this is totally mocking every single person and media outlet that has nothing better to do than talk about Taylor and her “girl squad” aka just her group of friends. We all have friends but normal people don’t refer to their group of friends as a squad that’s something hte media totally just made up.

The dollar bill…yeah you had to pay real close attention to catch that one. Did anyone catch the one dollar bill beside her while she laid in the bathtub of diamonds. This is no doubt a reference to the trial in which she just won for her sexual assault.

More on that tub of diamonds it had nothing to do with making fun of Kim getting robbed. You have to be absolutely out of your mind or crazy full of hate to think that she would do something like that.

The crowd of Old Taylor’s clawing to get to the top while new Taylor stands above them, this is just saying that the old Taylor is gone.

The snakes…well you know that is all a reference to her being labeled as a snake after all that stupid drama from a woman who is in her thirties picking on a younger woman.

The tea…it’s her turn to spill the tea now and she’s not going to hold back.

The ending…The end of the video is Taylor throwing shade at Taylor in the best of ways by saying everything that the media and haters have said about her in the past year

The line “I’ll be the actress staring in your bad dream”…so instead of being a nightmare dressed as a day dream (Blank Space) now she’s staring in your nightmares.

A few other notes, check her album release history she has always released her albums in late October/mid November. The date of her album release has absolutely nothing to do with the death of Kanye’s mother. Stop painting her to be the vicious person when you don’t even know her at all. You know of all the rumors and crap that the media spreads about her. Also, for the record Beyonce is not the only woman to ever stand in front of a row of dancers and dance…so let’s stop that reference right there. Taylor has no reason to reference Beyonce in ANY ill way as she is not on bad terms with her nor is she trying to be here. Taylor doesn’t have to try to be anyone other than Taylor. Her music sells just fine with her being her.

If you are a fan of music at all and going to see live performances you know a little something about lip syncing. Especially if you are a fan of someone like Britney Spears because she is frequently in the headlines claiming she does not sing live at her performances. Britney would not have a record deal and the career she has if she didn’t actually have talent and know how to sing. There is a lot more that goes into singing than just opening your mouth and having a pretty voice come out of it. It’s very easy to judge when you aren’t in the other persons shoes.

I took vocal lessons for a long time and I can tell you first hand when I went in there I didn’t realize how hard it really was to have a good singing voice. Yes I do have a good voice and I thank God for that but it is a lot of work to maintain your vocals. You don’t just open your mouth and have a good singing voice. When you are singing and I mean really singing you are using your diaphragm to push the voice out. There is a lot of breathing technique that also goes into properly singing as well. When you are a singer you have to learn to take deep breathes with your diaphragm and be able to extend that breath and push in with your diaphragm at the same time.

Proper singing is very different than just the person who starts singing in the shower thinking they are doing it correctly. The fact that you have to do all of this with your diaphragm makes it very difficult to do a lot of movement when trying to sing. The amount of movement and dancing that Britney does in each one of her performances would make it very difficult for her to be able to sing properly and maintain the voice that we expect her to maintain. Which is why she uses a mixture of her vocals and a backing track. This is actually a very common practice with all performance including Beyonce. Since everyone seems to use Beyonce as the example of a perfect performer. It would be very difficult for her as well to do all the dancing and singing.

Using a mixture of backtrack and vocals is something that has been around for years when it comes to performing. That doesn’t mean that the person performing is not talented and can’t sing. There is a lot of hard work that goes into an artist’s performance between dancing and vocals. Most of these artists also continue to have vocal coaches because they have to keep their voices in shape. Just like you have to keep exercising to keep your body in shape vocalists have to keep exercising their vocals.

I just wanted to stick up for the artists who constantly get called fake because people think they are lip syncing. A lot of the times it is just as explained above it’s a mixture. If they didn’t use backtrack their performances probably would not sound like something you would want to pay money to go see because their voices would be very weak and out of breath from all the dancing.

Yesterday while I was across the ocean at my job enjoying lovely conversation with people there were young ones losing their lives. The amount of senseless violence is increasing day by day around the globe. Tensions are so high right now that the smallest of incidents is going to set off a war between nations.

We are supposed to feel safe when we go to see concerts, or fly on an airplane, or go to a church. The reality of today is much harsher. The reality today is that you can’t feel safe anywhere you go. Safety is few and far between in the world we live in right now.

Those people in Manchester U.K. were just there to have a good time all together. They were there to enjoy the music of someone that they all truly loved. They wanted to have a good time and enjoy something they were passionate about. Instead some of them are now not going to be returning home to their loved ones.

Instead Ariana Grande is not going to be finishing the rest of her European tour leg. Instead people are hurt and crying. Instead of celebrating something good they are mourning. Instead of being able to sleep tonight they will be lying awake probably reliving the incident over and over in their heads.

We must stop this. Some how some way we must stop the violence. We must end the racism. We must end the sexism against women. We must end the hatred towards our lgbtq community. Instead of forging lines and dividing things further we must bond them together. We must find a way to bring people together and it tear them apart.

My deepest thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by the bombing outside of Ariana’s concert in England tonight.